Sales training programs worth taking is a constant topic in the world of sales. The truth is that whether delivered in class, in house or online sales training programs have helped thousands of salespeople to improve their selling skills. From help with sales prospecting, to improve lead generation or maybe improving general selling skills, sales training programs worth taking will have a range of topics to suit almost every sales situation.   In B2B sales today even selling smaller ticket items means a longer sales cycle with probably 3 or 4 people involved in the buying decision. For a salesperson who wants to be in a sales career for  the long-haul they must be able to create and nurture relationships over time. This requires that there are certain key sales skills to master to have real sales conversations and to get commitments to explore solutions that leads to purchasing decisions. This is the key to long lasting sales success.   The two biggest challenges facing salespeople today is the savvy buyer and outdated sales techniques that haven’t addressed how the savvy buyer is engaging with the sales process. As the modern buyer self-educates and has learned how to block out any sale approach, new sales training courses, programs and techniques have emerged to address these challenges.   Depending on which selling skills have a deficit or where the gaps in the sales process is, a salesperson could choose from thousands of sales training programs worth taking. Narrowing down the best sales training programs can be dependent on budget, time, resources, team mix, topics, focus, and delivery methods. Listed below are a suggested list of some evaluation criteria to use when picking sales training programs: The Location: Will the sales training be delivered online, in class or will the trainer deliver it in-house? The Time: How flexible is the time allocation or impact on the salespeople being removed from sales activity? The Program Length: How will the training fit in with the sales team’s schedule? The Topic Focus: Does the topics specifically address the challenges in the sales process? Pricing: Does the pricing match a 3 to 5X return on the training over six months? Role Profile: Is the sales team Inbound? Outbound? under 30 or over 30? And what is their training preferences? Sales Programs Worth Taking Social Selling Training. Social selling training has become a go to topic in many sales training programs now being delivered. The main driver to master digital or social selling is that the more traditional sales methods have diminishing returns. Add in the fact that other sales tactics such as cold calling have become an unwelcome intrusion to the savvy buyer and their buying journey. According to some of the leading sales trainers, to sustain business success, sales professionals need to adopt digital selling techniques as part of any efficient sales strategy. Social selling skills are transforming sales, prospecting and lead generation. A social selling training program is ideal for a variety of sales professionals, from inbound and outbound consultants and reps, to business development executives, account managers and sales team leaders. The main draw to social selling is to enrich the sales force with digital selling techniques, develop new sales skills aligned to social media and the ability to maximize every sales channel in the quest to sell more.   Sales Prospecting Training. A sales prospecting training program is focused on teaching salespeople about the entire process of searching for potential customers, clients, or buyers in order to develop a new business relationship. The salespeople undertaking this program can expect to learn how to engage, qualify and move prospects through the sales funnel until they eventually convert into revenue-generating customers. Sales prospecting is still a critical skill in many sales roles as it can be the first step in the sales process and the key which unlocks future relationships with paying customers for the business. It is also a critical part of the sales process for increasing the customer base of the company and generating new profitable revenue streams. A sales prospecting training program should up skill salespeople on how to get in early with a potential customer, build credibility, cultivate meaningful beneficial relationships and how to get the prospects trust that when the time is right, they will buy.   The main driver to master sales prospecting is that at any given point, only 3% of a business’s target market is actively seeking to buy with another 6-7 percent in the early consideration stage. This leaves approx. 90% of a business’s target market in the status quo (why change) position. So, for continued sales growth, salespeople need to learn the sales prospecting tactics that will trigger a prospect to leave their comfort status quo position and begin a buying journey with their guidance.   Sales Skills 101 Training. This is one of the general sales training programs worth taking, usually aimed at new or intermediate level salespeople plus as a refresher program for the general sales force. In the modern sales process, salespeople MUST create value for their customers and prospects through the way they sell. Sales skills training shows the modern salesperson how to deeply understand the customer’s purchase journey and identify the most significant customer challenge at each buying stage to have effective conversations and to gain commitments to progress the sale. Whether it is insight selling, collaborate selling or transaction selling, this type of sales training program teaches salespeople to help customers consider not just what to buy but how and when. Sales skills training will teach salespeople how to avoid focusing on getting customers to buy from them and instead concentrate on how their customers make real purchasing decisions. This program should also teach the sales teams on how to engage customers or prospects in conversations about their current beliefs and then give them the suite of sales tools to break down their current mental model, show them how it’s flawed or incomplete. Sales skills that allows the sales teamSales Training Programs Worth Taking